Only the Rocks Cared
by ThouShaltNotScream
Summary: Fox, an ANBU in the woods just outside the Village hidden in the trees, gives up. But will those who follow understand? Hints of unrequited SasuNaru/NaruSasu can be taken as either and SasuSaku. oneshot. Maybe a twoshot..


The clearing in the forest was empty of all movement and sound. Rocks on the ground hidden underneath layers of snow were the only one who noticed that the calm was to be broken a moment later by an ANBU with a fox mask.

_On a cold winter morning in a time before the light  
In flames of death's eternal reign we ride towards the fight  
When the darkness has fallen down and the times are tough alright  
The sound of evil laughter falls around the world tonight._

He was cold. So cold. His hands were shaking, and his chakra levels were dangerously low. The enemy was following him, and Naruto knew he probably wasn't going to be able to make it out in one piece. Hell, Naruto would be lucky if he was able to make it back and report to Tsunade-baa-Chan at all.

_Fighting hard fighting on for the steel through the wastelands evermore  
The scattered souls will feel the hell bodies wasted on the shores  
On the blackest plains in hell's domain we watch them as they go  
In fire and pain now once again we know_

The enemy was catching up, and the lone ANBU was almost out of chakra. If he was able to make it out, Naruto would never again underestimate the power of working in teams. He thought back to when he received the mission. Who else was there with him in the Mission Office? Besides Iruka-sensei and Tsunade-baa-Chan, there were… Oh yeah, Sasuke and Sakura were there. He remembered because they were talking about their upcoming wedding with the Hokage.

_So now we fly ever free, we're free before the thunderstorm  
on towards the wilderness our quest carries on  
Far beyond the sundown, far beyond the moonlight  
deep inside our hearts and all our souls_

Naruto frowned behind his mask. The love of his life was marrying the girl he had pretended to like for the past four years. It had been a pretty good distraction from how he was really interested in the Uchiha. The way Sakura got angry, and hit him on the head, and the way Naruto pretended to be hurt, and actually care about the rejection, Naruto wondered what he would have done if Sakura had said she liked him back…

_So far away we wait for the day  
for the lives all so wasted and gone  
we feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days  
through the fire and the flames we carry on_

The ANBU smirked. He hoped that Sasuke was happy, because he sure as hell won't be. They had all said he was a dobe, but didn't they ever wonder how Naruto "drastically" improved over the two year period he had spent training with Jiraya? Naruto smiled grimly. They hadn't even noticed that while Naruto was off training, a scarily efficient ANBU codenamed Fox with bight blonde hair has popped up and was making quick work of S-ranked two person missions one at a time. Or how it was rumored that Fox was also a boy prodigy that made ANBU at age eight.

_As the red day is dawning and the lightning cracks the sky  
They'll raise their hands to the heavens above with resentment to their lies  
Running back through the mid morning light there's a burning in my heart  
We're banished from a time in a fallen land to a life beyond the stars_

Naruto leaned against a tree to stop for a bit. He still had time before the enemy shinobis caught up to him. He popped a solder pill into his mouth, to gain back some of the chakra he had lost, and bandaged some of his wounds so he didn't lose too much blood. Not that it matted really, as Naruto had just realized something rather important. He didn't give a damn if he made it back or not. Hell, he didn't even care really if he completed the mission. But he didn't really want to disappoint Baa-chan or make her worry too much, so he wrote a message saying that he would try and make it back, but if he wasn't back in a day, then to know that he had either been killed, passed out, was captured, or committed suicide. Naruto then used one of his homemade seals and teleported the scroll and the message to the Hokage's office.

_In your darkest dreams see to believe our destiny this time  
And endlessly we'll all be free tonight_

The ANBU grinned. His chest felt lighter somehow, knowing that all he had to do was kill or disable the enemy shinobi. But… Naruto realized something. Even if he made it back to the village, only a couple of people would be happy he was alive. And only a few out of that would care that it was he, Naruto, and not just another tool that was need in the oncoming war.

_And on the wings of a dream so far beyond reality  
All alone in desperation now the time has come  
Lost inside you'll never find, lost within my own mind  
Day after day this misery must go on_

That was an interesting idea. What if he didn't make it back? Iruka-sensei would do his mother-hen worrying thing, but eventually he would forget and if people asked, years later, did you know Uzumaki Naruto? He would just be like, the name sounds familiar… but I can't place it exactly, probably just one of my students. Tsunade-baa-chan would be upset, but she would get over it, just like she got over the deaths of her brother and lover. She'd send someone out to look for him, but as long as her necklace was found and the mission completed, she'd recover. Kakashi-sensei would miss him, maybe, and might even say prayers for him at the memorial stone along with his dead team and sensei, but if he had his Icha-Icha Paradise books, he'd move on. Then again, Kakashi-sensei could probably survive anything as long as he had his Icha-Icha Paradise books.

_S far away we wait for the day  
For the lives all so wasted and gone  
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days  
Through the fire and the flames we carry on_

And then those who would notice, but wouldn't give a damn. Sasuke would just be like, the dobe was bound to get killed sooner or later, and Sakura would so wrapped up in Sasuke to care that her "best friend" was dead. **If** she even noticed. The villagers would probably have a festival… Naruto, the holder of the great fox-demon Kyuubi, is dead! The people at the ramen shop might notice that he was gone; after all he was their most frequent customer. But there were always more ramen-hungry folks, and their business would not suffer, it might even pick up now that the demon-container no longer ate there…

_Now here we stand with their blood on our hands  
We fought so hard now can we understand  
I'll break the seal of this curse if I possibly can  
For freedom of every man_

The Kyuubi kitsune decided on his plan. He took off his ANBU mask so when he died he would be Naruto, and not just another shinobi giving us their life for the saftey of Konoha. Then he threw the face-covering against the tree and watched it shatter into a million tiny pieces of porcelain, stained red in his eyes with the blood of those he had killed. He summoned a small fox and put the fifth Hokage's necklace around its neck, and told it to run to Tsunade-baa-chan, and not to stop. Then he preformed his Ultimate jutsu, one that he had never used.

_So far away we wait for the day  
For the lives all so wasted and gone  
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days  
Through the fire and the flames we carry on_

The clearing in the forest was empty of all movement and sound. Rocks on the ground hidden underneath layers of snow were the only one who noticed when the calm returned with the death of an ANBU and those chasing him.

Because after all, sometimes you just can't carry on anymore.


End file.
